Obama outlines states' stimulus package to governors

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Monday after eight years of a "continued deterioration in the government's balance speech" Republicans and Democrats are concerned about the legacy they're leaving the next generation.

The president spoke at the conclusion of a fiscal responsibility summit held with top lawmakers and economists at the White House.

"My sense is despite partisan differences ... everybody is concerned about the legacy we're leaving to our children," Obama said.

After brief remarks, Obama heard from the participants, calling on his former rival, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to talk about what came ouf of his working group, which discussed procurement.

"I think it was a very fruitful discussion," McCain said, adding that the group discussed how cost overruns in the Defense Department were a huge problem and citing the new presidential fleet of helicopters as $11 billion over budget.

Obama said the helicopter he has now seems adequate but then he'd never had a helicopter before so "maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it," as the group roared with laughter. He said he has talked to Defense Secretary Robert Gates about reviewing the program and its ballooning costs.

The day started with Obama telling the governors that $15 billion from the stimulus package will be distributed to states on Wednesday to help cover the costs of Medicaid programs. Later in opening remarks at the summit, the president pledged to slash the budget deficit in half by the end of his term.

"We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end ... We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences," the president said. "I refuse to leave our children with a debt they cannot repay."

Obama summoned allies, adversaries and outside experts to a the summit to discuss the nation's future financial health.

To achieve his goal Obama said Washington needed to control spending and that he and others would go through the budget "line by line" to get rid of wasteful spending to "eliminate programs that don't work to make room for those that do."